Notebook Navigation: Imagination is better than a sharp instrument

Let's hit the (note)books and do some writing. Notebook Navigation is a series of creativity prompts and exercises to spark the writing process

In this installment of Notebook Navigation, I read Mary Oliver and offer some writing prompts.

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What’s your go-to Mary Oliver poem?

I know, I know, that’s probably a tough question because there are so many great ones to choose from.

So what makes a Mary Oliver poem great?

They are accessible. You don’t need a degree in literature to “get” something from them. And you don’t need to be a “poetry person” to like them either.

Much of the imagery is clear and direct. Trees, ponds, mud, birds. Lots of other critters. You can envision the speaker walking, thinking, and looking around. You can see what she sees and hear what she hears.

But, there’s also quite a bit of nuance. Whether it’s a diamond sharp word selection, an unexpected phrasing, an unusual simile, or a hard-won insight that deepens her observations, there is usually more that meets the eye.

Also, for as inviting as some of her poems are with their simple beauty and command of language, there are also some pretty gritty challenges posed to the reader, at least to those readers up for the task of putting Oliver’s words into practice. “The test and the proof of learning are your life” is a line from Krishnamurti I used to put in my syllabi for writing classes. I think Mary Oliver would align with that perspective. Reading a poem and analyzing it is one thing. A life lived as poetry is quite another.

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The Notebook Navigation series is intended to be reminder to write something in your notebook today, a quick refresh for your creative writing process. Today, I’ll share two poems that are simple, yet subtle, and these selections will take us into some writing prompts to get us thinkin’.

Here’s a quick sum up:

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“Yes! No!” by Mary Oliver

How necessary it is to have opinions! I think the spotted trout
lilies are satisfied, standing a few inches above the earth. I
think serenity is not something you just find in the world,
like a plum tree, holding up its white petals.

The violets, along the river, are opening their blue faces, like
small dark lanterns.

The green mosses, being so many, are as good as brawny.

How important it is to walk along, not in haste but slowly,
looking at everything and calling out

Yes! No! The

swan, for all his pomp, his robes of grass and petals, wants
only to be allowed to live on the nameless pond. The catbrier
is without fault. The water thrushes, down among the sloppy
rocks, are going crazy with happiness. Imagination is better
than a sharp instrument. To pay attention, this is our endless
and proper work.

“Overnight” by Tracey Ormerod, from Wild Roof Journal Issue 19

“Can You Imagine?” by Mary Oliver

For example, what the trees do
not only in lightening storms
or the watery dark of a summer night
or under the white nets of winter
but now, and now, and now—whenever
we’re not looking. Surely you can’t imagine
they just stand there looking the way they look
when we're looking; surely you can't imagine
they don’t dance, from the root up, wishing
to travel a little, not cramped so much as wanting
a better view, or more sun, or just as avidly
more shade—surely you can’t imagine they just
stand there loving every
minute of it; the birds or the emptiness, the dark rings
of the years slowly and without a sound
thickening, and nothing different unless the wind,
and then only in its own mood, comes
to visit, surely you can’t imagine
patience, and happiness, like that.

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Running with these ideas a bit, I will offer some writing prompts to try out.

Prompt 1: Write as many sentences with that begin “Imagination is better than…” as you can. Don’t limit yourself to a single phrase to complete the sentence. Let each sentence run-on as long as it can.

Here, we aren’t trying to use the whole sentence in our own poems, mimicking Oliver’s line. However, some of the phrases and concepts that we use to complete these sentences might take us in our our direction.

More guiding questions:

What do you think serenity is? What is it not?

Consider for a moment what trees do (either while you’re looking at ’em or not). What can’t you imagine about it? Where does your curiosity go?

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Prompt 2: Take a poem that you’re working on and put the text into a single paragraph block. (Be sure to save a copy of the poem so you can go back to the original draft.) Now, re-do the line breaks. Repeat this exercise so you have a few different versions of the same poem. Try placing line or stanza breaks in places you wouldn’t normally think to place them. Do something weird with your line breaks.

Are there lines where you prefer one of the new versions? Is there a version that you prefer in its entirety?

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